not been sold out'and out to the Czar,' but had been / leased' ' to _ him for 20 years. Now, had either of these atoiies been correct there would certain- ly have been very good ground for re- monstrance, if for nothing more, on the part of our Foreign office. Hussia would have commenced on the Mediterranean her usual practice of land absorption, and would, moreover, have, ob aincd possession of a stronghold which might be most dangerous to our interests in the case of another European war. The Treaty of Paris forbad Busb'ia to have any military ports in the Black Sea, aud it cou'd cer anly never be intended to concede to her the rijjht of having such ports io the Mediterranean. However,

both the «to: ¡es to which we have al- luded were afterwards deohtred to be false, aud it wai nffirmedthat the only grounds for them were to be found in the simple fact that the Sardinian Government

had temporarily granted permission to the .! issian Steam Cjmpany of Odess , i simple mercantile association, to establish a coaling station at Yilla franoa. Had this arrangement been, in truth, all that was comtcmplated we should hardly have thought it worth mentioning, and the only parties ag- grieved would havo been the Austrian Lloyd's Steam Navigation Company, which at present has almost a monopoly of the Levant trade, and which therefore views with dislike the Odessa Company. With this, however, we have nothing to do, and perhaps none of us would be greatly m- r Tied at seeing Sardinia revenge herself on Austria in this manner. But it turns out, upon further inquiry, that the grant of certain pri- vileges to tho Odessa Steam Company by Sardinia does not represent the true state of this Yillaftaica business

Although it is perfectly true that Sardinia

has neither sold nor let Villa- franca to tho Russian Government, she has, as a matter of friendship, permitted that Government to have a depot of coal, rigging, and equipment stores in the magazines and dockyard of Villa- franca for the repair of any damage to her ves«els of war. This is a very dif- ferent matter from a sale or lease of the portr, because the permission thus given may be revoked at any moment ; but it must be confessed that it is also a very different matter from merely perin! ting a mercantile company to establish a dal depot.. In the official notification of the fact made by the Piedmontese Gazette the public ure reminded that a similar eoncessiou was made years ago by the Sardinian Government to that of the United States in the Gulf of Spczzia. Such a precedent, however, is of little weight. No European Power could be alarmed by the lact that tho United States had the temporary use of a Mediterranean port. The Trans- atlantic Republic very wisely refuses to have anything to do with European politics, and the presence of the s'ars and stripes in the Mediterranean possesses, therefore, no interest either to England or France. The case of the Russian flag is very different. We havo been engaged for many years in coun- teracting in the south of Europo the designs of the Power which it repre- sente. For tho purpose of humbling that Power we have just boen engaged in a short, but severo and costly war, and we must, therefore, view with great jealousy and dissatisfaction its appear ance, not as an occasional. Lut as a constant visitor in a Sardinian port.

There can bo no doubt that we owe this as we do all Italian difficulties and com- plications, to tbf) presence of Austria in Italy. The relations between the Government of that empire and Sar- dinia have long been most unfriendly, and the lattor is anxious to secure the goodwill of an ally who may afford 'her Iii« most effiejent protection ngainst the designs of the Court of Vienna, Austria Can attempt nothing against Sardinia .gaiust the will of Russia, and this temporary cession of the port of Villa- franca jg a douceur given by the former to the latter to secure her goodwill, It is not flattering to England and France that our gallant ally should be obliged thus to cultivate the good offices of his and our late enemy as against Austria, and that the King of Sardinia should find our friendship as little valuable as the King ol' Naples linds our long-continued coolness in jurious.-=-Zee<fa Mtreyry.